Lectures at Illinois to focus on bridging 'digital divide'

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will host a series of lectures on Wednesday evenings through Nov. 12 about bridging the digital divide in communities, education, libraries and public policy.

“Our lecture series will bring the hands-on experts in policy planning and implementation regarding the issues of the digital divide right here to our local community,” said Abdul Alkalimat, a professor of library and information science and African-American studies at Illinois.

The term “digital divide” refers to the haves and have-nots of the modern information economy: the gap between those who have access to information technology (that is, computers, data networks) and those who don’t.

“We have a digital divide problem in virtually every society in the world, and it is important that all of us understand this issue, especially students at GSLIS,” Alkalimat said.

The lectures will have a focus on community informatics, an academic discipline that studies the uses of information technology for personal, social, cultural and economic development within communities.

All of the lectures are free and open to the public, and will begin at 6 p.m. at the Library and Information Science Building, 501 E. Daniel St., Champaign.